Mowi Canada West provided this map showing the company’s seven Aquaculture Stewardship Council-certified fish farms in the Campbell River area, as of August 2019. Mowi maintains a number of other leases in the area which are not currently in production, according to the company.

Mowi Canada West says all of its salmon farms in the Campbell River area are now certified to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) standard.

The company says it received notice last week that its Lee’s Bay facility, located just north of West Thurlow Island, was certified by the independent third-party body. It was the company’s 24th farm certified to the ASC standard in B.C., according to Mowi.

All seven of the company’s fish farms in the Campbell River production area now have ASC certification, according to Mowi.

The company calls ASC the “gold standard in environmental and social certification” developed in a process involving environmental groups and researchers.

It says farms are audited against 500 criteria to achieve the certification.

Mowi Canada West managing director Diane Morrison praised the company’s staff, saying the full certification around Campbell River shows the farms are being operated according to the world’s highest standards.

Mowi says it has certified more farms to the ASC salmon standard than any other company in North America, and that 80 per cent of its production is now ASC certified. The company, formerly known as Marine Harvest, says it aims to certify all of its B.C. farms.

An undated image provided by Mowi Canada West shows the company’s Lee’s Bay facility, located near West Thurlow Island.

Howie Manchester, senior fisheries biologist from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, carries out a fish health audit at Mowi’s Okisollo fish farm in October 2018. The company, formerly known as Marine Harvest, says all of its fish farms in the Campbell River area are now certified to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council standard. Photo by David Gordon Koch/Campbell River Mirror